Next Generation Web Based Telecom Applications

Introduction

• Telecom applications in today’s world are not merely limited to providing telephone connection across two locations.
• Today’s telecom equipments make use of voice, data, and video communication mode and range from a simple telephone or mobile phones to wireless optical technologies used across in radars and satellites for scientific and military purposes.
• However with rising demands of customers and with competitive market conditions, providing these services is coming across as a challenge.
• So, Telecom Operators are transforming themselves into broader service oriented providers along with providing value additions to the end user. But this requires use of latest hardware and software technologies in an effective and smart way.

Use of Telecom Services

Need for Next Generation Architecture (NGA)

• Telecom applications usually are tightly coupled with proprietary hardware used by Telecom Operators.
• Due to the complexity involved in the nature of telecom applications, providing services which are readily available, secure and platform independent is a challenge.
• With invent of new and upgraded hardware, telecom operators need to enhance their software platforms with latest technologies and architectures to support the new hardware.

So, following is one of the possible approaches:

Advantages of NGA

Following factors (individually or collectively) could result in the transition to NGA:

• Low Development and Maintenance Cost
• Improved Performance
• Integration with latest tools and technologies
• Robust and Fault-Tolerant systems
• Multi Environment/Multi Platform Support
• More secure and reliable

The SOA Architecture Pattern

• Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) breaks everyday business applications into individual processes and functions, called services.
• SOA is a collection of services communicating with each other through standard interfaces and is designed to create a loosely connected architecture built up of reusable components.
• From a developer’s point of view, SOA provides a programming model to build Web Services, which is the new buzzword in the software industry.
• Many IT firms today are moving towards the use of Web Services in their applications for maximum benefit and SOA is one of the most popular architecture choices (e.g. British Telecom, IBM).

SOA Architecture Pattern – Key Points

Advantages of SOA

• Can be run using Java and .Net platforms
• Can be implemented using wide range of technologies like SOAP, REST, CORBA, DCOM, RPC, Web Services.
• Support all the standard information exchange interfaces like HTTP, XML, JDBC/ODBC.
• Supports distributed architecture style and is scalable.
• Many open source tools available like Sun JAXWS, Apache Web Services etc., WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) by Microsoft.
• Provides enhanced security and encryption mechanisms.

Typical Telecom Application Architecture using SOA

Enterprise Service Bus

• ESB provides core infrastructure for SOA.
• Essential in deploying and managing distributed applications.
• Typical use in middle layer for integrating between services.
• Ensures loose coupling and acts as a message broker.
• Uses XML as standard communication language.
• Includes adapters for integration with legacy applications.

SOA Middleware Layers

Case Study

Application Requirement – Provide Web Based Application for Call Control Management and Directory Services Management For Call Centre Supervisors

Case Study - Solution

Case Study - Use of Open Source Tools

Case Study - Handling of Real Time Data

• Use of ‘Comet’ component from GWT Rocket framework.
• Stream data in the response of a long-lived HTTP connection. Reference: http://code.google.com/p/rocket-gwt/wiki/Comet 
• A Comet Servlet is loaded in Java Servlet Container (e.g. Tomcat)
• This Servlet implements HTTP streaming of events to the browser using simple RPC mechanism through poll() method.
• At the client side, a comet session is started with creation of hidden iFrame which connects to Comet Servlet.
• The Servlet periodically scans a event queue for new events and pushes the serialized objects to the client (browser). The iFrame gradually continues to grow due to incoming data.
• After every session timeout, the client can close the iFrame to reclaim memory and then attempt to reconnect automatically.

Challenges and Alternatives

Challenges with SOA:

• Managing SOA metadata
• No standard tools for testing
• Providing end-to-end security
• Still in evolving stage

Alternatives for SOA

• Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
• Parlay X